My View - Gordon's "The Real World" Archives
IT’S LIKE PUTTING SOCKS ON A ROOSTER
It’s easy once you find the right pair. I learned that saying as a teen and it has always been one of my favorites; it tells me that no matter how hard something seems it can be done if you put your mind to it. It is just like life, how many things do you put off or just plain not do because it seems like it will be too hard?
We all start out the same, everything we have to do has to be learned how to do, in the beginning we will try anything, some of us take to everything we try quickly, some not so much. Some things it seems can never be taught to some people, mostly because in my mind those people just won’t give it a shot. I said last month that “can’t” and “try” are words I am trying to eliminate from my vocabulary. It is an undeniable fact that you can’t do anything you won’t try to do, it is just that simple. But don’t just try, do it.
There is nothing we cannot all learn to do, some will end up doing some things better than others but that is what makes life interesting and keeps us competitive. I have always been able to easily sell things, I was initially intimidated by a sales job that I would have to go to the customer and create a need rather than having them come to me with a need to buy. Thankfully I have become comfortable with what I do and that only happened because I got out there and tried. We never have anything to lose by trying, we can only gain knowledge and you can never know too much and I am pretty sure you can’t get too good at anything you can only just keep getting better.
I believe that we tend to wait on trying something new or taking a chance until the time is right in our minds and that is okay. But how do we know if the time is right until we just jump in and try? I realize failure is a powerful deterrent but I believe avoiding the “what if’s” later on is just as powerful. I hate to be in a situation that feels almost right and look back on it later and wish I had just gone and done what I wanted to do. You will never get that moment back. Most times you will get further by just jumping in rather than sticking a toe in the water. Jumping in might be a shock to your system but there is no doubt you will make it all happen when it isn’t as easy to back out. Jump in and do it, remember that you might screw it up initially in your mind but your customer or that person whose attention you are trying to get will not know it is your first try unless you tell them.
There are absolutely no guarantees in life except that you will get nothing in life that you do not ask for and you cannot do anything you will just not do. It is just that simple. I do not need to have everything but I will eventually have everything I want, I believe nobody appreciates anything that they didn’t work for but truly value everything they earn.
So there you have it. It all seems hard but it gets easier if you just make it a habit to just go out there and do it. If in the end the only reward you get is for you and your family that’s a pretty great thing in my eyes. So go out and do it, it’s easy, just like putting socks on a rooster.
Talk to you next month-I am jumping right in
Gordon
Posted on: April 2, 2012
POSITIVE ATTRACTS POSITIVE
I recently had another vendor ask a customer of mine if I really believed the things I said and if I didn’t just say those things just because I had to. Thankfully, my customer told this person that I did believe the things I say or I wouldn’t be saying them, the things I talk about and my attitude towards them are truly who I am. Besides, I am usually not a fan of doing what I have to do.
If you pay attention to the world you live in and how people respond to it you will pick up pretty quickly that positive attitude attracts a positive response and likewise negative attracts negative. I also find after having leaned towards the negative for so long that a positive attitude takes a whole lot less energy to maintain. So why not just be positive?
We work in a business that for the most part customer interaction starts out with a negative event. Broken cars and the inconvenience that comes with it and it is our job to deal with it and in the end make money from it. If we have a customer that comes in angry we tend to automatically take it as though they are angry with us, really they are not so much angry with us as they are just angry and want someone to be sympathetic to their situation. If that customers negative is met with negative what direction do you think everything will go from there? We have to respond in a positive manner to everything that is presented to us or the impression the customer will have is that we just don’t care and once that happens it will not matter what we do from that point, they will not be responsive to us at all. At that point if we try to sell something over and above what they came in for they will never be in a buying mood.
The same thing happens among other employees as well, every shop has people that are just thought of as a pain in the behind (you know it’s true). The thing is are they really a pain or are we just not handling them correctly? I mean are we taking the time to really find out the kind of people they are or are we dismissing them because we just don’t want to put in the effort? I have to pretty much get along with everyone, I have to say that it can be a struggle sometimes just as I am sure that my personality doesn’t make everyone just jump for joy. That’s just the way it is though, we do not have to be friends with everyone but we do have to get along and I find that I have met more good than bad in this business just because I took the time. I still have to handle myself in a positive manner to get a positive attitude in return. Thankfully I have won over some pretty tough folks over the years.
Every day, I hear the words “try” and “can’t” way more than I think I should, these are two words I am working to eliminate from my vocabulary. I might be starting an argument here but I believe using both words in business is an excuse for just not putting forth the effort to make what you want to happen just happen. Think about it. There will never be a time that you just “can’t” sell something, you always can, it is just that sometimes you do and sometimes you do not. It goes the same with “try” you either will or you won’t. Get in the habit of not using these words and just do it, see if your outlook doesn’t change pretty quickly. Not to mention you will sell more.
I am the only person that can make me have a bad day, I can allow someone or something to change my mood but I am in charge of making the choice to have a bad day. I admit that I have days that I have to sit in my van at each stop for a few minutes to adjust my attitude a little before I walk in the shop. Sometimes it is as easy as breathing, sometimes it takes a few minutes but I will go in with a good attitude. Like I said in the beginning, positive creates positive, so be positive and soon it will just stay that way. It will not take long before you see a difference in how the people around you respond to you.
We all want the world to revolve around us and it would certainly be nice if it would but it just is not going to be that way (it makes me sad too) The truth is the more positive energy you send out the more you will see that the world will revolve for you, just in the way everyone responds to you. That sounds like a pretty good world to be in to me. We affect everyone we come in contact with every day of our lives, why not try and put a positive spin on everything you send out into your world?
Talk to you next month-I am positive it will happen-
Gordon
Posted on: March 4, 2012
IT HAS TO BE TRUE, WHY WOULDN’T IT BE?
I believe everything I am told. I believe that everybody tells the truth every time they say something without even a trace of dishonesty. I believe every ad I see, every infomercial, every radio spot, I believe that if someone is advertising a product of some sort they have absolutely no reason to do anything but tell the truth. Now, knowing me as you do, do you believe that? I am pretty sure that you believe what I just wrote as much as I believe you fall for everything as advertised.
Advertising runs the economy; truth in advertising is a kind of double-edged sword, is the ad true or is it just true enough to sell a product? If it is done well it is probably both. Take the car business for example, I think we all know that the cars that we buy need more maintenance than what the manufacture says, is it true that if you follow the manufacture guidelines that you may never have an issue while it is under warranty? Absolutely. Now why would the people selling you a product only worry about their product while it is under warranty? They want to sell you more product right?
Statistics tell us that the average age of the cars on the road is increasing, that means people are keeping their cars longer. Now if people are keeping their cars longer and the company that sold it in the first place is really only concerned about getting through the warranty period what is the possibility that that vehicle is going to need a little more attention than they originally told us? Maintenance is cheap. I believe in my heart that a customer will never remember how much was spent to maintain a car but they will remember every dime spent to fix it. Not to even mention when it is broken they will be mad. Probably mad at you, mad because you didn’t help them prevent it in some way. Warranty or not, people don’t like things to break.
It is impossible to over maintain something. Although I do believe if you still sell a 3K-oil change you are wasting some ones money not to mention your own time. But the idea of an oil change once a year is just plain silly. The cars we work on have become pretty amazing, the problem is they still operate on the same basic things they always have. Most all of the systems need to be lubricated, and these automobiles do a better job now than ever destroying the products installed to do that lubrication. Sure there are synthetics but they are still oil and they break down just the same, they are not a magic pill that lasts forever. You know that, the people that built it know it; unfortunately the people that advertise it do a better job of telling it and selling it other wise than we do.
I want a whole bunch of cars to be sold, new and used, I want them rolling out the door as fast as we can physically get them ready to go. We cannot have cars to work on without cars being sold. It’s the circle of life in the car business. Cars will never be sold with out painting a pretty picture of the ownership experience, and the manufactures recommended maintenance is a pretty picture. That is a part of the plan we just have to live with. Its okay too, it is certainly not the end of the world. Our job is to paint a picture that is almost as pretty but teaches the customer the right way to do things. By the right way I mean you sell what is needed to care of the vehicle the way we know it needs to be taken care of. If we do that for our customer they will never be angry with us.
It is the owner’s prerogative if they want to do anything different than they are being told in the owner’s manual so we have to kind of soft sell the idea of doing anything differently from the first time we see them in our service department. This new car in front of you will someday be some ones used car, maybe even stay in the same family. Doesn’t it make sense to guide some one to make the right decisions for the future? Even if the manufacturer will cover something to 100K how do you think the customer will feel if it is ever broken? I personally don’t like to leave my car in a shop and in my mind it is never the same after a big repair, I am sure it is but hey its my mind okay? I bet your customers feel the same.
Let them know how little time it takes to take care of their purchase the way it should be taken care of. You know the truth, your customer really knows the truth, and you just have to take the time to let them know. Unless of course you do believe everything you are told.
Talk to you next month-
That’s the truth and I am sticking to it-
Gordon
Posted on: January 30, 2012
IT’S NOT JUST A NEW YEAR IT’S A NEW BEGINNING January 2012
As easy as it would be as well as being the typical practice to begin a new year, I am not going to write this letter as a retrospective of 2011. All I want to say about last year is that a lot of people were successful in this business and only a few were not. As we start 2012 if you were not one of the successful ones, congratulations, if not all I can ask you is why not?
Typically a lot of us start a New Year with some kind of resolution, something we are going to change about the way we live our life. I think above all now is a good time to make a resolution that you will be one of the successful ones in 2012. What is that going to take for you? I have said it before and as you know I will continue saying it until you hear it as a scream inside your head, the difference between where you are and where you want to be is closer than you think. You just need to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and see what needs to be changed in you and change it. You are all you can worry about; nobody is stopping you from changing except you.
I have spent the better part of my life being a person that looked for and unfortunately found the negative in just about everything. It has only been in the last few years that I realized how much energy I wasted on that and how much it held me back. I was my own worst enemy. If you are truly honest with yourself, is that where you are in your life? Have you made a decision that what you are or what you have is the best it is going to get? I am here to tell you that if that is where your head is you may be making the biggest mistake of your life.
It is never to late to change and most certainly never too late to learn something new. We stay who we are because we choose to; nobody keeps us there except us. It is far too easy to quit or blame your failure to change on other people or your employer, listen closely to the people around you and you will hear people who blame everyone and except zero responsibility for their selves. Do not allow that be you.
I am not sure what brings you to work every day, but the two things that get me out of bed every day are relationships and money. You cannot have the second without the first it is just that simple. I do not need to be the best at what I do to be happy and I do not and will not walk over anyone to get where I want to be. I compete only with myself daily and it is a joy to go to work. I go out every day and build relationships with my customers and sometimes with the customers they have. Everything is in place for you to be successful if your main focus is helping others get what they need to be successful.
Our world has become very much a place that focuses on the negative, I know if I hear about the bad economy once I hear it twenty times a day and I will continue to say it is only as bad as you allow it to be. I will not say that there are those out there that have it bad right now but if we are honest there is probably a reasonable explanation for it besides a bad economy. I think if we do everything we can do to make our little part of the world better and not use any energy worrying about what others are doing we will start a tidal wave of positive that will be unstoppable. You call me a dreamer, but I am not the only one.
So as we start our new beginning, decide right now what you want 2012 to be. Decide that if you were one of the successful ones in 2011 you will be even more so this year and if your were one of the few that were not, I dare you to go out this year and exceed past what you thought was successful before. Like I said, I dare you. Double dog dare you.
In retrospect, last year was just a practice to get you used to being all that you could be. I accept that some people operate on a different learning curve than others but that’s all over now and it is the time to get serious. Don’t look back, do not stop until you are where you want to be and have fun doing it. Don’t bulldoze anyone along the way, grab the slower ones by the arm and take them with you to the top. The more of us up there the more fun it will be. It’s a new beginning.
Talk to you next month-It is only the beginning-
Gordon
Posted on: January 3, 2012
TIS THE SEASON
Finally its here, the time we have all been waiting for. “Season”. So now that it is here how do you plan on handling it? Most of you out there have done an admirable job off-season, of taking a lot of nothing and making it into a lot of something. Nobody will argue that traffic has been down for all of us and we have had to get much more creative in how we support ourselves. But now that we are going to see more traffic will you continue to look for everything in every car or do we fall back to just picking the low hanging fruit?
Now that season is here what makes you think that it will be any different than the rest of the year? We will see more cars no doubt but will it be like we expect? Season like I remember it from years ago is pretty much a thing of the past and if we are all honest with ourselves it hasn’t really been season for quite some time and unfortunately we cant do like Wal Mart and just start our season a little earlier every year to make the numbers look good. We have to make do with what we have come through the door and we have to keep doing the great job we have been doing all year and not let up. Making every car count is especially important now; some of the people we will see will not be back until next year so we have to make an impression. Treat every customer like they haven’t done anything to their cars since last year and have been waiting just for you to take care of it for them.
Everyone of us has paid a price in the form of decreased traffic thanks to the fact that the cars we deal with are just plain better, some of you have embraced that idea and some of you are still living in a dream world that all of a sudden we will just have cars lined up to the streets every morning and it will be just all you can do to take care of them. Hate to burst your bubbles out there but it is just not happening. So I have to ask the question; what do you plan to do about it? I know that if you are reading this you are probably pretty smart and just want to get smarter so if that is the case the two of us have to be really smart as a team. With all that intelligence how can we possibly lose?
In my mind decreased traffic adds up to increased ticket average. Make sense? If we have more time to spend per car it is only logical that the dollars we make per car will be higher right? Now since a lot of you have been getting very efficient at making the best of every opportunity and its season and we will hopefully be seeing even more cars, we can take all this new found salesmanship and not only have a high number of repair orders but a really high ticket average too? I know you can do it!
I get to hear every excuse under the sun for sales being low, my least favorite is “nobody’s buying anything” but I believe my second least favorite is “traffic is down”. Of course traffic is down, like I said earlier, we have been seeing that for years in our shops, better cars, more shops to choose from, the list goes on and on. If I had the choice between writing a customer up quickly and moving them out of the drive in hopes something better comes along or spending some time with each and every car to see what can be made from it I will always choose spending more time. Isn’t that a better choice than sitting in the drive playing a game on your smart phone? And if we take more time at the write up hopefully that works its way to the technicians who are now looking over cars stem to stern finding something to sell.
I know it all sounds like a grand plan or maybe even a pipe dream but I believe in my heart that everything you want is possible to achieve and the only thing stopping you from making it happen is you. Not traffic, not the economy, nothing. You want it go get it. Do not pick and choose. Set your sights on everything that comes in the door and be relentless. Tell your customer everything. Look at everything, not just what is needed today but what is needed soon as well. Look people in the eye and tell them what to do. You are the boss and your customer wants nothing more than you to be just that. Not bossy, just the boss.
Tis the season, go make it a good one!
Talk to you next month-Gordon
gordon@bgfox.com
Posted on: December 5, 2011
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IF IT AIN’T BROKE, IT MUST BE FIXED
Thought provoking don’t you think? I think it is a pretty fair statement that in every shop everyone would think that something is just missing, some little magic thing that would be the difference between where you are and where you really want to be. What if that little magic thing holding everything back is really you? What if what really needs to change it all to be better isn’t everyone else but it is you? It’s a scary proposition to think that it could be us but maybe that is exactly what the problem is. We do tend to be our own worst enemies.
I have talked about the relationships we cultivate daily and how important they are to the success of our businesses and if we don’t concentrate first and foremost on those relationships that business success is shaky in the long term and shaky is something boys and girls that we just can’t have. The difference between what you have now and what you want to have is probably not as big a jump as you might think, most times just making an effort to work smarter rather than harder is all it will really take. Everyone going in the same direction is the most important thing to have in place, we all say we are all there to accomplish the same thing but is that really what’s happening?
The relationship between the advisors, technicians and the parts department can either make or break the process, one of those three that is out of synch causes problems that keep us from accomplishing our goals. Success is a very simple process as long as we never assume the other parts of the plan know what is happening, communication is always the key. From the moment a car pulls in the drive the whole shop needs to be going in the same direction to make sure every problem is addressed, extra services are discussed and sold; proper parts are ordered to do the job. Sounds simple but it seems to turn into a kind of three-ring circus if we allow it to happen.
Nobodies job is more important than the others in the shop, if one piece is missing the whole process grinds to a halt.
Here is my point; every single piece for success is in place at every one of your shops, it might not be in the right place right now but I can guarantee you that it is there and if everyone can look at what their contribution is to the plan and honestly see how they can be a better part of it there will be no stopping any of you. If you have taken the time to read this far or for that matter read this at all you might be saying to yourself that there is nothing wrong with what you are doing someone else is holding you back.
Every one of us has the same goal, keep customers coming back and make more money. Since we have all the pieces in place the job is easy, we have relationships in place that guarantee our success so there is nothing stopping us. Make it happen!! Now is the time to look at every opportunity like it is your last, every customer is dealt with like they are the only one you have seen or will see this month. You really do not have to be a rocket scientist to see that we do not have the traffic in the store that we used to. There are so many choices out there fighting for our customer’s dollar that once we get them we have to make them want to stay. Make it where they could not imagine ever buying from anyone else, you know them and their car better than anyone else anywhere and they know it and appreciate you for it.
It is important now that we are becoming a well oiled selling machine to remember that where you work is a for profit organization, we are not social workers to decide what each customer can or needs to buy. Everything we have to sell is what they need to buy. We just decide for them when. We have built a relationship now that allows us to tell every customer everything they need to do. And when they need to do it.
Now that my short time with your attention is over, and you have almost finished reading this and are absolutely chomping at the bit to go out and be all that you can be, help bring everyone else up to that level, think every day about what you are allowing to stop you, what is that one thing that keeps you from being better. It ain’t broke, you already fixed it.
Talk to you next month-what will we fix then?
Gordon
gordon@bgfox.com
Posted on: November 7, 2011
LIKE IT OR NOT, IT’S JUST LIKE A FAMILY
It is pretty safe to say that we all have people in our lives that we care for more than we do the people we work with. We spend our days working with those people in order to be able to afford to have nice things and provide for the people we really care for right? Who do we really get to spend more time with? I think it is a pretty safe bet that in the end we spend way more time with our coworkers and customers than we do our own families. Sad but true, in the end these people are like a big second family for us.
So, if that is the case, how do you treat the family you spend most of your time with? Probably not quite like your real family. It is understandable, you didn’t grow up with those people or watch them be born and raise them since babies, but you do spend an enormous amount of time with them so what do you think would happen if we were able to treat everyone a little more like we treat our real families? Would we ultimately be a better team? Could we, would we sell more with a relationship like that?
I have only had a few jobs in my life, I like to find a place and stay there, and I like the comfort of it. The longest stretch I have ever had at a job was ten years at one place and I transferred to a different store working for the same company. When I left the first store it was truly one of the hardest things I had ever done, I had grown up with the people I worked with and it was very hard to leave that family, like moving away from home in a way.
A lot of the people I get to work with everyday have been at their jobs for a long time and for the employers that is a great thing, training new people is a very time consuming and expensive thing to do, if you have employees you want them to stay. Things tend to change for the long term employee over time, the feeling that they are not appreciated for what they do for the company or a sort of complacency sets in and they figure that they have been around for so long that they are just plain untouchable. If this employee were your sister or brother or one of your children how would this attitude be handled? Would it be ignored or would it be addressed so that everyone could get along?
All of the stores I go to are a team, some work better than others but they are a team all the same. A team that does well rewards the strong and supports the weaker so they can get stronger. Like a family. Nobody makes it all happen alone, and the employee that thinks that the whole place would grind to a halt without him needs to be shown the light. Just like a family. Personal problems have no place in the family at work, if you expect to be treated a certain way you should be expected to treat everyone the way you want to be treated. Try it for a week and see what happens for you.
You always get in return what you are willing to give, if you start to go the extra mile for your fellow employees because it is the right thing to do and not for what you stand to gain from it nothing but good things will happen. Spend your working day making sure that everyone is using the tools to be successful, the better everyone can do the better you will do. In the end the family you have during the day is really worth the effort. Just like your real family.
Talk to you next month- Gordon
gordon@bgfox.com
Posted on: October 4, 2011
COMMUNICATE, SHOW THEM HOW SMART YOU ARE
Relationships make our worlds go round. If you are not actively building relationships in all parts of your life you end up with two things, no friends and no customers. How we handle the relationships we have is important, relationships take a lot of work to be successful and the biggest part of that work has to be communication. If you don’t communicate, you stagnate and end up right back to square one.
Communication comes from both sides of the relationship, if both sides do not say what they want or what they like nothing happens but assumptions. This means not only talking about what you want but talking about the things you don’t want as well. Sounds way too simple doesn’t it? You would certainly think so, but how many relationships do you know of that ended because one or the other party just didn’t listen? Too many times that happens and it happens more than we know with relationships in our businesses, the only difference we may never know it happened. Chances are that if your customer isn’t happy, you will never know. Customers need to know what we expect of them as much as we need to know what they expect of us.
After we have seen a customer a few times a funny thing starts to happen, we start to think we are becoming friends and the whole dynamic changes, we start watching out for them and assuming what they will and won’t do when they come into our stores and suddenly we expect them to just come in and tell us when they want to spend money, which is strange because they didn’t come into the store in the beginning and just hand over their wallets, you asked them if they wanted to buy something. Why did it stop? If they bought once how did they suddenly turn into someone that will not spend money?
I believe we trained them to be that way. From the first visit we teach our customers what to expect from us, the places that I visit that are successful are active in not only telling each customer what they need today but take time with each and every customer to talk about what to expect next time they come in, just like the doctors office where you know what to expect each and every time you visit. Our business has changed drastically in the last twenty years, cars that we used to see every 3K we now may only see sometimes once in a year. How did that happen? We, more specifically the manufactures trained them that it was okay for it to be that way. We just sat, complained to each other about it and did absolutely nothing to keep it from happening. Does that sound to something similar to what’s happening where you are?
Compared to your personal relationships where both sides need to be pretty well equal to succeed, your business relationship needs one side to dominate, and when I say that boys and girls I am expecting you to be the one to dominate. You know more about the cars your customer drives than they do, if that weren’t true they would fix them by themselves. That said, regardless of what each manufacture is saying, you have to take control and let every customer know what you know needs to be done and not just when something is broken, every visit you have to communicate what is coming up at the next visit so they know what to expect. You may have all heard me say at one time or another that no one will ever remember what they spent to maintain a car but they will remember every single dime they spent to fix it.
Never assume what someone is willing to spend or how much money anyone you talk to has, you don’t tell them how much money you have so chances are they aren’t telling you either. Ask questions, if you do not like hearing the word no start asking questions that cannot be answered with no. If you need help with that I can help you. Communicate, if they have an appointment and show up early let them know they are early and you will be with them when you wait on the customer ahead completely. Everyone gets the same treatment. Cars are expensive, and can be even more expensive if you allow someone to let it all go until it breaks. If that happens, how good was your relationship? My guess is at that point there is no relationship. We have the power to keep that from happening. Communicate; you just never know what will happen, my guess is you will be surprised.
Talk to you next month-I know how smart you are
Gordon
gordon@bgfox.com
Posted on: August 29, 2011
RELATIONSHIPS ARE WORTH WORKING FOR
The first you saw what you hoped would become your significant other or anytime you zero in on someone you really want to impress how do you act? My guess is like me you put on your best behavior, smile, and try to put your best foot forward. Am I close? At the beginning is the time when we all do everything we can to impress the person we have our eyes on. We really work at it. The only way we can get someone’s attention is to put on our best and we do it without question in our personal lives at the drop of a hat.
Customers and our fellow employees are relationships we spend more time in than we do in our personal relationships, why is it we seem to not work as hard to impress those people? Just like when you meet someone special outside work, you are not doing anyone a favor by dealing with him or her, they are doing you a favor by stopping and allowing you to spend time with them. For the sake of argument, the customer is someone special to be made to feel like the most important thing in your life just like you would do the person you might have your eye on to start a relationship with.
Relationships are where the rewards are, talk to anyone that has been in a very long term relationship and chances are that they are made to feel special and important by their partners. They stay because they are happy to stay. Customers buy from people they like, and if we don’t really work on that relationship they will find someone else to buy from. Where do you shop? Why do you go where you go to shop? I have a few places I prefer to go when I want certain things; I go because I like the way I am made to feel when I am there. Someone remembers my name, remembers things about me and in general makes me feel good that I decided to go there to shop.
Do you conduct yourself in a way that makes people want to deal with you? When you speak is your agenda more important than the person in front of you? When I ask that question I am asking if your are taking the time to really find out why that person came in or are you just trying to get to the next person? If you are a technician and dealing with a service advisor or vice versa are you really taking the time to communicate or are you just assuming what needs to be done so you can just get on with it?
The best part of the job I have is the people I have gotten to meet doing it. There are a few people that I have known in this business for half my life and I think that is saying something. I have gained customers in this job completely based on a relationship I had with them in another job. I am not saying every single person I deal with makes me all warm and fuzzy, that is hardly the case but I try to never allow that one person bring me down to a level that I cannot treat them the same way I treat all the others. There is an old saying that goes along the lines of the behind you kick today may be the behind you have to kiss tomorrow. Good advice.
So what is your level of commitment to your relationships? We really don’t live in a world that supports commitments do we? It is all about the quick buck get them in and get them out, even personal relationships have no commitment, why stay together? The easiest relationship you will ever have is the one you choose to stay in, sometimes it will be a struggle but the reward will far outweigh the sacrifice. Statistics bear this out, customers that stay will buy less per visit but spend way more the longer they keep coming back. Do what you have to do to keep them coming back, smile, act like you care and make them feel like they are the most important thing ever. Do that and you will win and win big.
To close I am not talking so much about work as I just having fun in what you do, it is far harder to go into things with a bad attitude than it is to just smile and shake off what might have happened a few minutes earlier and just be the person other people want to be in a relationship with. Make it fun; it is more fun to be happy than it is to be unhappy isn’t it? It is worth working for.
Talk to you next month-We do have a relationship by now don’t we?
Gordon
gordon@bgfox.com
Posted on: August 1, 2011